This invention relates generally to medical imaging systems and, more particularly, to controls and methods for positioning patients in medical imaging systems.
Medical imaging often requires accurate and repeatable positioning of the patient for a scan. For example, in nuclear tomography, cardiology scanning requires patient positioning such that the heart is as close as possible to the center of rotation (COR) of the camera. This is typically achieved by manually adjusting the table height so that the patient's torso is centered within the COR of the camera. This process requires bending on the part of the operator in order to place the operator's eye in a direct horizontal line with the COR. In addition, the table height used for loading and unloading the patient is determined generically and is not always appropriate for the particular patient.
Nuclear tomography, for example, cardiology imaging uses a comparison of the results of two scans, one acquired with the patient at a rest condition and the other acquired with the patient at a stress condition. For such comparison to be clinically optimal, patient positioning during each scan that may occur hours apart is important.